JBL's Marketing Blunder..
This is such a bizarre JBL promo video portraying young women as ditzy airheads...certainly not the way to reach younger blood and expand the customer base.
Here's a retort from the Audioholics channel
JBL Ad portrays Gen Z women as Idiots?!
I suppose JBL will try and do just fine by selling the same things over and over to a shrinking aged male customer base. Good luck JBL!
@deep_333 wrote:
+10 Or, Mr. Timbers may be very sad about it (hardly indifferent), but either way it would point to a significant issue. |
At the least, Greg is one guy who'll laugh hysterically at the recent audiobool trend of "huge cable, huge dac, huge everything except for the tiny lousy lil crappy lil speaker". |
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+5 or even +6 @rumblestrip cant believe the curmudgeons on this site
BTW Had JBL's in the 70's they were fine and still are ! Nothing wrong with the market they are going after - I like what you offered
+1 @jonwolfpell and @yakbob and @nonoise and @yakbob much ado about nothing I spent too much time on this one |
I'm curious, for those who work or have worked in stereo/HT stores, what percentage of box speakers along the lines of those in the commercial are sold to women? My guess is almost none. This commercial is probably a futile attempt to sell to a demographic that has near zero interest. Thiel did this at the end, it was obviously a silly old man with money who hired a pretty young "CEO" to look at and try to make Thiel cool for women. You could tell by the way she talked about the products she was kind of embarrassed of what she was doing. |
FYI: Those JBL videos are installed in the Best Buy JBL kiosk. They are trying to promote a new generation of listeners into what is a dying and shrinking segment of the consumer electronics business. It is also designed to make traditional Home Theater more accessible to women who just might want something more than a sound bar. The hour glass is starting to empty on full sized receiver based systems and the 60 year old make demographic is shrinking every day. I am on the retail floor, with 30 years experience selling consumer electronics & every year for the last 15, the # of receiver based Home Theater has declined. In the store were I work, Sound bars dominate the market by 99.5%. So this is not a campaign for audiophiles but is a valid attempt to prevent the ship from sinking. |
JBL's attempts to improve their home audio business are comical. In the ad, they claim 'MA' stands for Modern Audio. I was expecting a modern look that would appeal to Gen X/Y/Z. The chassis and speaker cabinets look like leftovers fom the '70s. They'll never capture the gross profits they make with their car audio business since they do well as an OEM provider to many auto makers. |
In the area of accurate reproduction, the original speakers which created the sound in the first place are not necessarily the best choice. Very likely that a speaker which is more accurate and true to the source will make the JBL D120s sound more correct. Some of the worst speakers I have ever heard were the JBLs from the 1970s. |
Who buys JBL? Many years ago I used to play guitar using a a Fender twin reverb with two JBL D120F's. So while you all are trying to figure whose speaker can reproduce music most accurately, try to remember the equipment that made that sound in the first place. JBL made good stuff for the music industry. SJB |
They went out of their way to try & do the opposite of what you're suggesting. These are not airheads or excessively glamorous or two dimensional. JBL tie to keep it real & reflective of the way people talk in real life. They ere aiming for respectful authenticity & didn't do too bad a job either. It may not help them that much as it's little diffuse - but hurt them? Absolutely not. |
I saw nothing stupid nor controversial. Good informercial for the intended demographic target. This is all old men talking silliness in their old mental church's religious audiophile perceptions.
"Who buys JBL?" Quite a lot of people; especially young people that buy Bluetooth devices. I just love it when an old elitist "audiophile" (in his mind) says crap like this. Silly, but Like 10 years ago, I wanted to get a true "audiophile" pair of speakers to upgrade from my JBL L 890s and went to listen to B&W 803s. We're talking around $16,000 at the time vs $1200. Silly, but although I could tell that the 803s sound was better than my L890s the difference wasn't worth the price of the B&Ws. The addition of a second subwoofer more than cured my "want" to upgrade my system and made my overall sound "good enough" to keep my "lowly" JBLs. I have two daughters in their 20s still living at home, I see and know how they respond to audio. It tells me that the day they're on their own place they would want a decent sound source from were to play/listen their music. Something uncomplicated. JBL would meet their needs, that's for sure.
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The JBL team know exactly what they are doing and this ad is likely going to be a big hit for sales. Most young people are very familiar with the JBL brand via affordable bluetooth speakers and headphones. The under 35 female market is a different scenario from years back,previously men purchased the main audio in a home.Women are single longer,earn as much as men and guess what want a decent sound experience like they grew up with via dad’s setup.They are not stupid and understand the bluetooth speakers they own are lacking.Considering these systems are going to be sold in big box stores ala Target,Best Buy,Sam’s Club and Costco the marketing is perfectly geared to the intended demograhpic*Target. Besides most of us here would not really consider the new JBL offering anything other than a simple system in a box many of us started with 30 years ago. Remember Mr. Audiophile this was intended for THEM not YOU. |
https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2715159 'Who buys JBL?' JBL makes fairly good Bluetooth speakers as well as personal ear devices. Lots of people.
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All I see is jbl marketing there name and audio equipment to females. nothing more nothing less. On the other side of the coin I see a individual hating on one of the biggest name in the speaker industry. I my self do not have deep pockets but I have personally own jbl l250 l-112 4311 4312a l-100t. I still own and never sell is my fantasy jbl 4345. I also bought two jbl 2235h 2441 and jbl 075 to build a custom 3 way system. The legacy of Altec lansing james b lansing is in our greatest bands who ever played. jbl is in any great recording studio. Movie theater. Let's see jbl had so much of a profound impact in the audio world pioneer brought out the hpm series to try to compete with jbl l-100. Pioneer also came out with a company name Tad to compete against this insanely awesome speaker company name JBL |
Brilliant. And like someone said, notice that they are shown as financially successful. Not only can they afford the gear, someone can afford an awfully nice house to put it in. They're not dressed like babes either. Functional clothing that you would wear if you work for Google or some other tech company. I did learn something though. Bluetooth turntables? WTH?
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@roxy54 ado to do whatever. It's dumb. |
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I just turned 50 years of age this past August 4th. With that being said, I think that the commercial is just fine. JBL is targeting a much younger audience that was never into stereo equipment. Maybe there were curious about it but just didn't know where to start and JBL took that critical first step for them and won. By the way, I was at my local Best Buy last week and I saw the JBL receiver. Looks very simple. Crutchfield has it on their site too. |
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I have a 24 (F), 19 (M) and 17 (F) year old. The older one and younger one definitely thought the ad was cringe. The dude in the middle just snickered away (as i expected) and i couldn’t get any constructive feedback outta him. I think I’m fairly well aware of how that generation operates. For starters, they are quite a bit more tech savvy than the avg geezer in geezerville (actually). Ya just have to get the message across that there is fairly non-invasive+easy use equipment that will blow the socks off their typical bluetooth crap and Dr Dre headphones. I have had clusters of other kids (friend circles, etc of above mentioned) hear my rigs over the years. I literally should have taped the jaw drop reactions/responses of that crowd, which alone should serve as top notch advertising, i.e., portrayal of genuine jaw drop reactions...Pair it with some subliminal mantra like..."JBL..Once ya hear it, ya ain’t unhearing it", etc and it should be good to go (Create curiosity and a sense of mystery). You tell these kids you need 15 different boxes to play a song (like the geezers) and they’ll run away. I would fire JBL’s advertising goober crew. P.S. Nowhere in that ad did it ever say why the hell you should spend your money!
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@hifiguy42 + 1 |
Modern day, knee-jerk drama being manufactured where there is none. The JBL is fine, and targeted at a specific audience (guess what geezers, you’re not it). Good on their marketing team for trying to bring a younger, more diverse population into the hobby even if it’s through the lifestyle/home theater door. As for the ditzy-airhead comment, these (admittedly fictional) young women must be doing something right if they’re lounging around in home worth $500k-$1M and appointed to an equal level. |
It’s actually brilliant & yes, without question girls in this agegroup speak EXACTLY like this. It’s pretty cute but is really just an extention of how they comunicate through SM. JBL gets it... these kids had JBL Pill Bluetooth speakers in college and are now through all that and out in the world making money. I have kids in this demographic and I see them very clearly. It’s brand recognition; JBL, Beats, Klipsch, Nike, Adidas are recognizable brands for them. They tend to go for what they know and just expound on it or... they go heavy retro with a vintage system and MCM furniture in their 1st big boy, big girl apartments/homes. One thing’s for sure, they are helping drive the market. Jjust look at vinyl sales. The ad is on point and strikes perfectly the note they are trying to play. Just my opinion. |
"I'm asvjerry, and I approve of this message...." ...take 2 aspirin and don't call me in the morning... Play loud....or get out where it IS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZLkOcNheZY
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@bojack ;)....try 'conniption fits over cables'....that might strike 'stones' 'round heya....*LOL* 😏 Tough crowd...🤨 It's been poked 'n kicked about occasionally as to 'omg, the Real 'Philes are going to fade into the dirt, misunderstood and considered *SHOCK* ...loners....' Well....we have all the earmarks...and not meant as a pun. Audio, and the means to make 'all of it' sound better, regardless of source. The tech has risen to where we used to strive for, and overall is doing fairly well at it. Just because the product isn't meant for you, or us for that matter... So F'n what....the way of all things cultural and evolutions of societies. At the end of any day....there's bigger fryers to be concerned over of late. Let the nice young women make a buck in an ad designed by JBL and all involved to push their products into the next decade and stay in the game. Besides....'the really Serious buy esotery for sums they can afford'... Let them eat cake....😒
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@rumblestrip + 3 or 4 or whatever count we are at. Especially the gatekeeping part. |
Dudes. This is a male dominated hobby so of course you'll get more than a smidgen of typical, lost in the past impressions from clueless men. That ad was pretty good satire and very clever at that. It breaks down tons of barriers to Gen Zers out there, making stereo palatable again. I can see the younger generation that so many here lament about seeing the value of this hobby watching that ad and going for it. Isn't that what we old timers want? All the best, |
As we know, JBL is amongst the most successful audio companies of all time both on the professional & home audio sectors. They’re smart folks who know what they’re doing & it’s nice to see them trying to turn a younger crowd onto better quality sound than on their phone or computer. I haven’t heard the stuff they’re promoting but it probably works well & sounds pretty good for the $ & potentially nice stepping stone to the next level of equipment more often discussed here. As for how they depicted their target audience, it was pretty right in to what I see & hear from my employees of that age group albeit in a funny, slightly “ tongue in cheek “ fashion. Pretty well done. |
@larsman +1
Yup - their opinions at least. I do need them occasionally when I have to figure out how to do something. @deep_333 - Awesome YouTube vid on vocal fry. I actually find vocal fry somewhat of a welcome addition as a less irritating form of speech compared to upspeak that I despise. Speaking of a disinterested form of speech. At least they didn't use fundie baby voice.
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It's suppose to be funny. Have you spent any time with people in their 20's? Sadly, this is what they are like. They hang out in a room, all doing something on their phones, and they don't really talk to each other. They are very "whatever" Think JBL was trying to connect to a younger audience who is mostly happy listing to music on their phones, and BT speakers. Trying to do some education without bring boring, or preachy. Just this is the cool stuff, or whatever... |
Vocal fry is not really the thing I thought it was. very widespread, cross cultural. https://youtu.be/Q0yL2GezneU?si=2g-F1tmxpYb2O_Co |
